Strategy of smart power application in space diplomacy of the European Union

1.1 Characteristics of EU´s space diplomacy

1.1.1 Formation of the common EU space institute
Characteristics of the space diplomacy of European Union are shaped by different factors than
the space diplomacy of Russian federation, or any other nation state. First of all, EU is a supranational
entity, political and economic union uniting 28 countries of Europe. Among many things, this fact
means that space diplomacy, just as regular diplomacy will not be conducted with regards to national
interest but rather interests of the union that consist of a compressed interests of all 28 member states.
European Union, in order to achieve its goals, that among others include promoting peace, offering
freedom and enhancing cohesion and solidarity among EU countries1 is consolidating its power to
act in the sphere of foreign and security policy, despite foreign policy is in a large scale still rather
intergovernmental matter and majority of member states do not delegate the full power of conducting
foreign policy to the entity of EU and act independently. EU is however interested in consolidating
power and competences in the sphere of foreign policy and formed it Common Foreign and Security
Policy (CFSP) chaired by so called High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security
Policy (often abbreviated as only High Representative) in 2007, as well as set up European External
Action Service (EEAS) in 2010 in order to carry CFSP. This means EU has its own foreign service
and as many suggest, its importance will grow directly in proportion with building infrastructure (for
example establishing EU diplomatic missions) and delegating more competences to EEAS.

Science and technology has always been an important sphere for European Union to be
involved in and S&T was forming a core of its political construction as well as economy of the EU.
Before forming the EU as an union known today, many states put effort into creating and maintaining
pan-European science and technology projects. However, many countries were prioritizing their own
activities in the sphere, with France and Germany being the most active ones. Countries mentioned
above did also touch the sphere of space technologies and outer space exploration, with France being
the most involved one. National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) as a space agency of France was
established in 1961 by president Gaulle, making it one of the oldest space agencies in the world
(however, out of European countries, Spain and Greece had their space agencies established earlier,
in 1942 and 1955 respectively, but their research was aimed not at direct launches or space
exploration, therefore this fact is not significant for this work) and soon after that, France became the
third space power of that time with being the only country except USSR and USA to develop its own

1
“Goals and Values of EU”, europa.eu, https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/eu-in-brief_en
expandable launch system called Diamant.2 Germany followed with its German Aerospace Center
being formed in 1969. Many might argue that united European space policy could not exist before
the European Union in a form we know it today was formed, however, cooperation of states in this
sphere was active too, for many years before signing the Maastricht treaty in 1992.

1.1.2 Cooperative character

Politics of the European continent after the World War II are characterized by growing trend
of cooperation and integration of European countries in different spheres, most visible in political and
economic. However, this characteristic was visible in the sphere of science and technology too, as
well as directly in the sphere of outer space issues. Today, EU is fully aware of the significance of
S&T cooperation and this awareness is best demonstrated in an article by EEAS, stating: “Science
cooperation is a fantastic way to developing links of all kinds (human, political, business oriented…),
and maintaining them when other kinds of direct relations are difficult (cf. Iran)”.3 As explained in
the first chapter of this work, space diplomacy should be considered to be a part of S&T diplomacy,
therefore the EU´s interest in supporting scientific cooperation touches the issue of cooperation of
space and space diplomacy, despite the fact the term is not directly used by the European Union. The
importance of space for EU is openly stressed in EU´s Space Strategy from 2016 – “Space
technologies, data and services can support numerous EU policies and key political priorities,
including the competitiveness of our economy, migration, climate change, the Digital Single Market
and sustainable management of natural resources. Space is also of strategic importance for Europe.
It reinforces Europe’s role as a stronger global player and is an asset for its security and defence.”4

In 1975, European Space Agency as an initiative of Western European countries to merge two
separate agencies involved in outer space activities - European Launch Development Organization
(ELDO) and European Space Research Organization (ESRO) was formed. All of the ten founding
states - Belgium, Denmark, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland and the UK that signed the ESA convention were Western European countries,
therefore it comes as no surprise that the cooperative character of the agency - that did not only
merged two agencies but on some level integrated space programs of the founding member states –
was first and foremost visible in the cooperation with the strongest space agency of the western world,
NASA. Despite ESA today is not being a body of EU (that was formed in 1993 when Maastricht
treaty signed one year earlier came into effect), EU and ESA are not a single actor of EU’s space

2
“Diamant Launchers”, The Satellite Encyclopedia, http://www.sat-net.com/serra/diaman_e.htm
3
EEAS, “Science Diplomacy”, https://eeas.europa.eu/topics/science-diplomacy/410/science-diplomacy_en
4
European Commission, “Space Strategy for Europe” https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/1/2016/EN/COM-
2016-705-F1-EN-MAIN.PDF
2
policy and diplomacy and two institutions do not act as one in these terms, its existence and activities
largely influenced character of what would later become a science and space diplomacy of
contemporary European Union. The first and most important characteristic of European space policy
and space diplomacy, just as any other policy in European Union, is therefore its deep cooperative
character. Except for the fact that cooperation is in general the core element of today’s EU and all its
policies are based on cooperation, space related matters maintain this character for another reason -
no open competition in this sphere is possible in the EU, as only very few EU countries (probably
only France) are able to conduct successful space diplomacy on their own and for France it is
beneficial to have the opportunity to conduct both independent space diplomacy not interfering with
interest of the EU in the field (such as involvement in Guyana Space Centre) and space diplomacy of
EU as a supranational body, that brings broader international acceptance and development
possibilities (economic, technical contributions from more states) and that has no potential or interest
to damage its independent space diplomacy. This characteristic feature is redoubled by the fact
European Union and its bodies, such as European Parliament, Commission and the European Council
have to maintain a tight cooperation with ESA, because, as mentioned above, ESA is not a body of
the EU and the collaboration is therefore maintained via official meetings, agreements etc. - not via
directives of the responsible EU bodies. As it is visible, EU faces the problem that currently, two
main entities conducting space diplomacy exist on the European continent - ESA and the EU. As this
chapter has a goal to define strategy of the EU, only the EU - politically independent on ESA - will
be considered the to be the main entity (despite technological dependency on ESA). In the past,
European Union put efforts into transforming European Space Agency into an agency of the EU 5,
however, these efforts were not successful and as we will see later in this chapter, it might have
influenced the future relationship of the two entities. When speaking about cooperative character, not
only cooperation of EU with ESA and cooperation of individual member states shall be considered –
we need to take into account the cooperation on different levels - with other states and their space
agencies, such as close technical cooperation with Roscosmos and China and cooperation with NASA
and U.S government.

Despite the fact that cooperation is an important, if not the most important element of space
diplomacy, it is possible to argue that cooperative character of EU´s space diplomacy might not be
perceived as solely positive aspect. In the last years, European Union is experiencing a state of inner
political and ideological turmoil with many internal conflict on different issues emerging on regular

5
“Establishing appropriate relations between the EU and the European Space Agency, Council of the European Union”,
http://register.consilium.europa.eu/doc/srv?l=EN&f=ST%2016374%202012%20INIT
3
basis6. As with any other sphere in any integrational process, it might be a hard task requiring a great
diplomatic ability to consolidate opinions, values and ideas of various states. In the case of European
Union´s space diplomacy, the task is therefore to have an advanced inner mechanism of negotiations
between EU and ESA, as well as between individual states. To prove this opinion, one should look at
a real situation in order to demonstrate the statement. Very recently, internal problem in European
space policy related to the United Kingdom leaving European union emerged and underlined the risk
of a constant need of cooperation and crisis management mentioned above. Despite Brexit, the United
Kingdom is planning on maintaining strong position in regards to shaping European space policy
and space programs and demands all privileges in relation to Galileo satellite-based navigation
system. UK is a member state of ESA and therefore has the right to keep certain rights using its
position in ESA´s governmental Council, but with EU´s plans on gaining more independence from
ESA in certain projects, this might become a problem for both UK´s ambitions as well as for the
mutual relationship between EU and ESA7. In order for EU to conduct a successful space diplomacy,
it needs to consolidate its internal relationships and relationship with ESA and try hard to avoid future
clashes.

Except for the need to avoid possible future clashes between member states of both ESA and
EU, including potential clashes of ESA with the EU, more serious and long term issue related to the
negative aspects of the need to constantly find a path to successful cooperation shall be defined and
analyzed. As it was outlined on the example of the recent argument related to UK´s ambitions to
continue in forming European space policy even after leaving the EU using its position in the
governmental Council of ESA, European Union´s space diplomacy might stand before a serious
problem related to its “dual character”. The fact that EU and its institutions are not the only, neither
the strongest actors of EU´s space diplomacy did not hurt European ambitions in conducting space
diplomacy yet (at least not visibly), but it might certainly appear to be harmful in the future. As
mentioned above, ESA is not a body of EU and acts as an independent intergovernmental
organization. Despite the fact that EU remains to be not only the biggest institutional partner and
provider of significant funding for ESA and on the other side ESA is a crucial partner for EU as it
provides technological assistance and deployment for EU´s projects and programs, two institutions
often come to a point where they have different opinion on space related matters, including opinion
on conduction of space diplomacy (this is demonstrated by the fact ESA has their own individual
liaison offices around the world conducting space diplomacy on its own, independent on EU). ESA

6
Steven Erlanger, “EU Hoped to Put Its House in Order This Year. Not Even Close”,
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/11/world/europe/brexit-europe-macron-merkel.html
7
Daniel Boffey, “European Space Agency boss warns EU of rival agency risks “,
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/jun/06/european-space-agency-boss-warns-eu-over-star-wars
4
has a special place in European space policy, legislatively underlined in Article 172 of Lisbon Treaty,
stating: The Union shall establish any appropriate relations with the European Space Agency. 8 This
means the EU is legislatively obligated to cooperate with ESA, however, on the other hand, it has
growing ambitions to make its space policy and space diplomacy fully autonomous. Relationship of
EU and ESA can be described using following quotation: ESA views the (European) commission as
ESA’s in-house banker, there only to provide the money and to keep away from program details, and
the (European) commission views ESA as a technician, competent in its limited areas of expertise but
incapable of setting strategy.9

1.1.3 Current views on common EU space institutionalization

In 2018, EU transformed its long term ambitions to create a EU space agency into concrete
legislative form - EU Commission proposed transforming existent European GNSS Agency into
“European Union Agency for the Space Programme” and the ambitions for autonomy were directly
expressed in the new regulation “on establishing the space programme of the Union and the European
Union Agency for the Space Programme“. In the regulation, it is stated: one of the main objectives is
to ensure the strategic autonomy of the EU’s space policy.10 The question is as follows: wouldn´t the
establishment of a new agency make governance of space activities and therefore governance of space
diplomacy more difficult? Taking into account the premise that EU is responsible more for political
agenda of the space policy and ESA maintains the science and technology sphere, two organizations
should have their competences clearly divided, but suspicion that their programs and legal
foundations might interfere is rather high. Other significant obstacle is the fact that some members of
ESA are not members of European Union (Canada as an observer state of ESA and sitting on a
governing Council of ESA is not even a European country) and vice versa – some EU member states
are not members of ESA.11

1.1.4 Competitive character and securitization

Except for cooperative character of EU´s space diplomacy, one of the most visible traits is its
growing competitive character, mostly in the sphere of S&T programs with civilian character that are
beneficial to the mankind. EU has not been directly involved in a 20th Century space race and does
not have the historical and technological legacy as the one Russia or USA have (ESA, however does

8
Treaty of Lisbon, eur-lex.europa.eu, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:12007L/TXT&from=EN
9
Peter de Selding, “Data-relay Project Exemplifies Uneasy Relationship Between European Commission and ESA”,
https://spacenews.com/data-relay-project-exemplifies-uneasy-relationship-between-european-commission-and-esa/
10
“Regulation of the european parliament and of the council - Establishing the space programme of the Union and the
European Union Agency for the Space Programme and repealing Regulations”, European Commission, https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52018PC0447&from=EN
11
“New Member States”, European Space Agency,
https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Welcome_to_ESA/New_Member_States
5
have certain technological legacy coming from the legacy of individual member states). EU has been
building its space policy and space diplomacy on a different foundations than states mentioned above
- as a new entity, it did not participate in the events of the 20th century including space race and
momentum of militarization during Cold War, plus the EU came into existence as a product of liberal
ideas of peaceful cooperation, hence attempts for militarization did not appear for a long time. Some
technological legacy comes from an era of Cold War, such as Ariane rockets family that are still being
used by ESA, with their history going back to 1970´s and to cooperation of France, Germany and the
United Kingdom. In contrast with Russia, EU was never in a need to slower or completely abort
various projects and fulfillment of it space program due to economic or political crisis - quite on the
contrary - the integrational and cooperative character of EU that puts emphasis on innovations has
helped it to become one of the strongest players in the field of outer space technologies and
exploration and today, EU is considered to be a great space power.

It might seem that EU maintains mostly peaceful, civilian character of its space program, as
the official institutions often put emphasis on it. EU, despite having founded Common Security and
Defense Policy (CSDP) that is a main component of CFSP, does not have an EU army and in the
question of defense and security the union is largely dependent on collaboration with NATO, that is
considered to be an essential element in maintaining European security.12 This collaboration was
underlined by a joint declaration of the President of the European Council, the President of the
European Commission, and the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization from
2016. The declaration supports the premise that NATO is considered to be an essential element in
European security: “The substantial cooperation between NATO and the EU, unique and essential
partners, established more than 15 years ago, also contributes to this end. […] A stronger NATO and
a stronger EU are mutually reinforcing. Together they can better provide security in Europe and
beyond”13. It might therefore be considered as no need for EU to largely invest into military programs,
including into militarization of space. However, taking into account official documents,
announcements and speeches of representatives of various EU institutions, in the last years, EU had
changed its former direction and became to be more interested in the defense and security aspect of
space technologies (despite still promoting and addressing to its space activities as purely civilian
with peaceful purposes), mostly in order to consolidate its independence and autonomy, mostly from
other space powers, such as Russia (in case of supporting ESA’s interest in promoting European-

12
“EU-NATO Cooperation factsheet”, EEAS, https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-Homepage/28286/eu-
nato-cooperation-factsheet_en
13
“Joint declaration by the President of the European Council, the President of the European Commission, and the
Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization”, NATO,
https://www.nato.int/cps/ra/natohq/official_texts_133163.htm
6
made rockets instead of Russian) and USA (in the case of EU’s Galileo allowing EU to be
independent from GPS). It comes as a no surprise that some military character is contained in some
of the EU - in this case represented mostly by European Defense Agency programs (technologically
supported by ESA), such as in case of Governmental Satellite Communications (GovSatcom) that is
aimed at supporting implementation and enhancing of effectiveness of various policies of EU such
as maritime security, arctic and border management14 or The multinational space-based imaging
system (MUSIS), designed to provide space based imaging capabilities for surveillance,
reconnaissance, intelligence and earth observation operations of the European military15. As it will
be declared later in this chapter, many of EU´s programs, despite being promoted as clearly civilian,
have dual-use character and might be therefore considered to have both military and civilian use.
Despite EU´s collaboration with U.S. and partial dependence on the alliance with NATO, with
NATO´s future being more unclear then anytime in the past since the formation of the organization,
it is expected that the EU will become more interested in rethinking its views on the defense. Very
likely, this rethinking will touch an issue of space technologies where lies an undoubtedly big
potential . This is the reason why the words security and defense are being more and more often used
in connection with the word space, however, it is unclear whether the whole character of EU´s space
policy and space diplomacy will be changed from mostly civilian to partly military. Even if this
transition happens, EU is putting effort on the soft power element of its space diplomacy and as
mentioned, tries to promote it as clearly civilian, therefore it is not expected to see a radical change
in the space policy presentation

1.2 Institutional and Legal Framework of EU space diplomacy

1.2.1 Actors and institutional framework of EU space diplomacy
Because of the dual character of space diplomacy of the European Union and the fact that EU
is a supranational body instead of a nation state, there are more actors responsible for conducting
space diplomacy than in case of any nation state. First and foremost, actor of an EU space diplomacy
is every member state of the European Union, as every member state has the right to form the politics
of EU. It would not be correct to state that these states directly form or conduct space diplomacy of
the EU (in some cases, they actually conduct their own space diplomacy, such as France), the
influence is rather indirect – every member state has their representatives in EU structures, as well as
EU committees consist of every member state´s delegation that form the decisions made on the

14
Commission staff working document impact assessment – GOVSATCOM, European Commission,
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-political/files/budget-june2018-space-programme-impact-
assessment2_en.pdf
15
“Multinational Space-Based Imaging System (MUSIS)”, Army Technology Magazine, https://www.army-
technology.com/projects/multinational-space-based-imaging-system-musis-europe/
7
committee level. One of the most important institution of the European Union is European Council
that serves the purpose of a collective body. European Council defines the main priorities of the EU
and defines the political direction of the Union. Council is comprised of head of states and heads of
governments of the member states of the EU, therefore it can be perceived as the most direct
possibility for member states to form the space policy and space diplomacy. Space policy is among
the policies that the Council considers to be the most important and influential for the future of the
whole European Union, acknowledging the strategic importance of space sector for reinforcing EU´s
role as a strong global actor, as well as acknowledging space sector´s asset for EU´s security and
defense.16 European Council, as a crucial institution of EU has the right (and uses this right) to address
other institutions with recommendations and advices towards the space policy, indirectly influencing
space diplomacy conducted by EU - we shall therefore consider it to be an important actor forming
institutional framework of EU´s space diplomacy.

Other EU institutions also serve the purpose of important actors of EU´s space diplomacy –
with European Commission being the most relevant one. Firstly, European Commission is the
executive arm responsible for legislative proposals, implementation of decisions and upholding all
EU treaties – it is therefore apparent then such institution will act as the most visible actor responsible
for not only drafting and implementing space policy but conducting space diplomacy both directly
and indirectly. European Commission has various departments that might - when transformed into a
political system of nation states - serve as an Union´s alternative to ministries. Among those
departments, one is directly involved in the matter of space and therefore have the right to act as
actors of space diplomacy – department of Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
with a sector of the department being dedicated to Space17, including international cooperation. EU´s
Commission Horizon 2020 program shall be considered to be the core of European Commission role
in forming EU´s space diplomacy. It is an EU framework program for research & development
implemented by EU, aimed at securing Europe's global competitiveness with almost €80 billion of
funding available for the time period of 2014-2020.18 Horizon 2020 has a developed framework for
space R&D, as it is ”fundamental to ensuring that EU space policy continues to provide cutting-edge
solutions to everyday societal problems. It also benefits EU citizens and ensures that Europe remains
competitive in space activities.”19

16
“EU Space Policy Timeline, Council of the European Union, https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/eu-space-
programmes/
17
“Space Sector”, European Commission, https://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/space_en
18
Horizon 2020 page
19
“Space Sector within Horizon 2020”, European Commission,
https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/area/space-0
8
 Except for European Commission, two committees should be considered to be main actors of
EU´s space diplomacy – Committee of the Regions and The European Economic and Social
Committee. Legislative arm of EU – European Parliament is also an actor of Space diplomacy, as
every proposal related to space undergoes legislative briefing as well as direct voting in the
parliament.

The next important actor of EU´s space diplomacy, also forming the institutional framework
is the European Union External Action Service that fulfils the role of EU´s foreign and defense
ministry. Many times, high representative F. Mogherini herself declared the need of EEAS to be
involved in the process of making EU a space power and demonstrated the need for international
cooperation in the sphere of outer space, such as during her opening speech at the 10th Conference on
European Space – “As you see, there is no contradiction for us between strengthening the European
Union as an autonomous space power, and at the same time investing in global cooperation on space
issues. […] there is no viable alternative to cooperation on space issues, but this requires a strong
autonomy from a European perspective. No single country can reach the stars alone – that is clear.
And you know this better than me. You know that every space power relies to some extent on other
space powers.”20 EU missions and diplomats are involved in the issue of cooperation in space related
matters too, regularly attend official visits related to improving space cooperation, such as in 2018
when a delegation of senior EU diplomats visited European Space Agency tracking station in
Australia.21 Several EU´s delegations have departments and counsellors being responsible for space
policy. Therefore, not only the EEAS should be considered to be an actor of space diplomacy, but its
individual delegations (there are currently over 130 EU delegations in different countries and regions)
and EU diplomats too.

As mentioned in previous chapter, EU is promoting itself to be oriented on civilian aspect of

space technologies more then on military, however, it does maintain some form of military character,
mostly connected to surveillance, border control and migration control – this military character would
therefore better be addressed to as security or defensive character. European Defense Agency (EDA),
set up in 2004 is an EU agency that promotes and facilitates the development of capabilities
underpinning EU´s Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) – in other words, EDA serves as
an agency improving EU member states defense capabilities through European cooperation. The
agency, despite having its own director in charge, is headed by the High Representative of the Union

20
Frederica Mogherini, “More Space for More Europe”, https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-
homepage/38617/opening-speech-high-representativevice-president-federica-mogherini-10th-conference-european_en
21
“Space mission: European envoys visit European Space Agency in Australia “ EEAS,
https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage/52959/space-mission-european-envoys-visit-european-
space-agency-australia_en
9
– Frederica Mogherini. EDA is involved in the development, negotiations and later launching of
GOVSATCOM initiative mentioned in the last subchapter. The initiative is aimed at providing EU
Member States, organizations and operators with assured satellite communication services by 2020
and will be a capability that is placed in between the commercial satellite communication market and
the highly protected military satellite communication capability.22 The project is of crucial
importance for the EU, EU´s space policy and space diplomacy, as it will improve government action
in order to increase the security of citizens of EU in a large scale but also change the character of
EU´s space diplomacy and adding a strong defensive aspect. Because of EDA involvement in
Govsatcom and other projects, the agency should too be considered to be an actor of EU´s space
diplomacy.

As mentioned before, dual character of EU and the fact that EU is a supranational body makes
the number of actors influencing and conducting EU´s space diplomacy bigger and the institutional
framework more broad. Except for the influence of EU member states and European Union
institutions of legislative and executive branch, agencies and organizations that are not directly bodies
of the EU influence its space diplomacy and have the possibility to directly or indirectly conduct it.
One of such organization is European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites
(EUMETSTAT). The importance of the organization for EU´s space policy is underlined by the fact
EUMETSAT is mentioned in Space Strategy for Europe from 2016 several times, mostly in relation
to its successes related to establishing, maintaining as well as exploitation of meteorological
satellites.23 EUMETSAT has 30 member states, including all EU members states plus Norway and
Switzerland and with Serbia being “cooperating state”. This means EUMETSAT might be considered
to be an actor of EU´s space diplomacy in relation to other European countries that are not members
of the EU, but EUMETSAT also has signed agreements with Agencies of Canada, China, Japan,
Korea, India and Russia, as well as with the USA. EUMETSAT is also active on international forums
and actively cooperates with World Meteorological Organization – in this sphere, the organization
particularly supports activities in developing countries in Africa. Transforming this into a theory of
regular diplomacy, EUMETSAT, together with other organizations that are independent on the EU
but defends political, scientific and economic interest of the EU serve as non-state actors of EU´s
public diplomacy.

The other important actor of EU´s space diplomacy forming its institutional framework is
European Space Agency. Despite the fact ESA is being an intergovernmental organization

22
“Future European GOVSATCOM programme takes next step”, European Defense Agency, https://eda.europa.eu/info-
hub/press-centre/latest-news/2017/09/12/future-european-govsatcom-programme-takes-next-step
23
Space Strategy for Europe, European Commission, https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/1/2016/EN/COM-
2016-705-F1-EN-MAIN.PDF
10
independent on EU, it is one of the most important actors responsible for forming and conducting EU
space policy and diplomacy. European Space Agency was formed by mergence of European Launch
Development Organization (ELDO) and European Space Research Organization (ESRO) in 1975,
when 10 states signed an Convention on the establishment of ESA24. Up to date, ESA has 22 member
state with 20 of them being member states of EU and two non-EU members – Norway and
Switzerland. Despite the fact only 20 out of 28 EU member states are regular, full members of ESA,
all of the other 8 countries cooperate with ESA on some level. 7 states - Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus,
Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Slovakia have signed a cooperation agreement with ESA allowing them
to indirectly cooperate and participate on all projects and programs and one state, Slovenia, has a
special status of Associate Member. Canada, participating in several ESA projects has a cooperation
agreement signed and the representatives are allowed to participate at ESA´s Council.

ESA today is one of the few space agencies in the world active in almost all spheres of space
activities – space science, human spaceflight, space exploration, earth exploration, space
transportation, navigation, operations, technology and telecommunications. All member states
contribute to the funding of the organization in the amount based on states´ GDP and ESA´s activities
are divided into two categories: mandatory - studies on future projects, technology research, shared
technical investments, information systems and training programs – contribution to these programs
is mandatory for every member state; and optional. The budget of ESA for the year 2019 is set for
4.18 billion €. In ESA´s funding scheme, separate funding is dedicated to programs that are
implemented by institutional partners, such as EU. This budget for 2019 is set for 1.54 billion € and
81.3% of this budget is an income from the European Union.

As mentioned earlier in this chapter, the relationship of ESA and EU is very specific. Despite
the fact ESA has a special position in EU´s legislative including Lisbon Treaty and ESA considers
EU to be the most important institutional partner and both organizations share a common aim that
lies in the effort of strengthening Europe and the effort to benefit all citizens of Europe, both
organizations are fully individual, with different tasks, rules, competences and legislative framework,
what makes their relationship and cooperation more complicated. ESA shall be considered to be a
technological and development ally of EU in its attempt to form independent EU’s space diplomacy.
European Union for many times expressed its interest in integrating ESA into the structures of the
EU, however, this integration never occurred. In 2014, Council of the European Union issued a
document called “Conclusions towards a shared EU-ESA vision for space fostering competitiveness”
based on a EU´s Competitiveness Council meeting outcome and stressed that Council shares the

24
McDougall, M. the Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age, JHUP, 1997
11
Commission’s assessment that transforming ESA into a EU agency would require political consensus
which may be difficult to reach in the foreseeable future and its intention to focus its assessment on
the options referred to in paragraph 7, including improvements on the basis of the existing EU-ESA
Framework Agreement.25 By this statement, EU practically decided not to continue in the efforts of
integration of the ESA into the structures of the EU as there is lack of willingness on the side of ESA
and decided to build the future cooperation on division of competences.

ESA has its own institutional framework creating space diplomacy conducted by the
organization. IRC is an international relations committee of ESA. The committee has two main
responsibilities – assisting the ESA Council managing the space policies of the member states with
the aim of achieving common position of member states in international bodies, the other one
responsibilities is to submit views and recommendations with regard to cooperation with other
international organizations, institutions as well as with governments of non-member states. ESA has
three offices - in Brussels, Washington, D.C and Moscow. Office in Brussels is part of ESA’s EU
Relations Office and serves as a representative of ESA to EU and its institutions. The Brussels office
also liaises with national Permanent Representations to the EU and the Committee of Permanent
Representatives. The general liaison office in Washington, D.C represents ESA in the United States
and in Canada, set up already in early 1970s is the oldest foreign office of ESA. As in the case of
Brussels and the EU, Washington´s office represents ESA before the U.S and Canadian governments
(but also before related organizations, such as NASA) and its main purpose is, just as the purpose of
any diplomatic mission in the world, to inform ESA about the developments relevant to the
organization, to support ongoing and future cooperation of ESA with USA or Canada and managing
and to coordinate actions that are related. The last office located in Moscow, with its official name
being “ESA Permanent Mission in the Russian Federation” represents the agency before Russian
government and related Russian institutions, with the most relevant being Roscosmos. Mission is
responsible for following and reporting on development and implementation of Russian space
program and space policies. The primary objective is to strengthen European cooperation with Russia
related to space sector, being oriented on political, economic and technological aspects of the
cooperation, therefore, just as other two offices of ESA, permanent mission in Russia theoretically
serves as an institutional alternative to any diplomatic mission of a nation state. Both Moscow and
Washington, D.C offices report directly to the IR department of ESA.

25
“Conclusions towards a shared EU-ESA vision for space fostering competitiveness” Council of the European Union,
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/28143/142787.pdf
12
1.2.2 Legal foundations of EU´s space diplomacy
Importance of the dual character for EU´s space policy and therefore its space diplomacy has
been mentioned before, as it influences both its characteristics and institutional framework. In the
case of legal framework, EU´s space diplomacy consist of three major foundations. The first one is
the legal framework of EU, the second is the legal framework of affiliated or cooperating
organizations and the third one is the framework of agreements and regulations of cooperation and
relationship between EU and related organizations.

Legal foundations of contemporary EU are based on several treaties that are considered to be
a core of the legal system of European Union – Treaty on European Union (Maastricht Treaty from
1992), Treaty of Amsterdam signed in 1997, Treaty of Nice signed in 2001 and the Treaty of Lisbon
signed in 2007. In the last of the main treaties that form the constitutional basis of the EU, the term
“space” is mentioned several times. The most important point is in Title I, Article 2 C: In the areas
of research, technological development and space, the Union shall have competence to carry out
activities, in particular to define and implement programmes; however, the exercise of that
competence shall not result in Member States being prevented from exercising theirs.26 This
underlines the cooperative character of EU´s space policy – Union´s competence exist, however,
Member States have the right to exercise theirs. In Article 172, the need for creating a Space Strategy
and the need for international cooperation is highlighted: Union shall draw up a European space
policy. […] It may promote joint initiatives, support research and technological development and
coordinate the efforts needed for the exploration and exploitation of space27. Also, as mentioned in a
previous subchapter, special relationship of EU and ESA is underlined in Article 172, stating the need
for EU to establish a appropriate relations with ESA.

The other type of legislation consist of different legal acts, regulations, resolutions,
agreements, decisions and directives authored by one or more institutions of the EU. Most of them
are concerning specific issues – legislation on individual space programs, legislation on space market
etc.

Space Strategy for Europe of 2016 is another example of legal foundation of EU´s space
diplomacy. The role of space for supporting various EU policies and priorities is underlined and every
chapter of the strategy is concerning different aspect of the future EU space policy. First one is
dedicated to the plan of maximizing the benefits of space for society and the EU economy; in the

26
Treaty of Lisbon, eur-lex.europa.eu, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:12007L/TXT&from=EN
27
Treaty of Lisbon, eur-lex.europa.eu, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:12007L/TXT&from=EN
13
second one, the plan of fostering a globally competitive and innovative European space sector is
elaborated; the third one regards reinforcing Europe’s autonomy in accessing and using space in a
secure and safe environment and the last one concerns the plan of strengthening Europe’s role as a
global actor and promoting international cooperation, with the main action for the EU Commission
to be pursuing space dialogues with strategic international partners, ensure that space policy is duly
taken into account in EU export control dialogues with third countries, use economic diplomacy and,
trade policy instruments to assist European companies active in global markets and to address
societal challenges.28 In December 2018, proposal for “Regulation of the European Parliament and
of the Council establishing the space programme of the Union and the European Union Agency for
the Space Programme”, that was mentioned earlier in this work, was drafted. In case the proposal will
be accepted by relevant institutions, it will support the Space Strategy and create another important
legislative framework for the conduction of EU´s space diplomacy.

As mentioned above, every organization directly or indirectly affiliated with EU in the terms
of cooperation on the issue of space has their own legislative framework, such as the ESA Convention
of 1975, ESA´s Resolution on the European Space Policy of 2007 or EUMETSAT Convention. This
shall be considered to be a part of a large complex of EU´s legislative framework, as both bases are
interconnected by the third part of legislative foundation - the framework of agreements and
regulations of cooperation and relationship between EU and related organizations.

The framework of cooperation of EU with ESA is very broad. The most important document
forming the base of the cooperation is the EU-ESA Framework Agreement that came into force in
2004. The document sets institutional settings, organizational basis of cooperation as well as regulates
and divides responsibilities and is set to be renewed every 4 years with the last renewal happening in
2016. Legislative connection of ESA with EU defense happened in 2011, when Administrative
agreement between ESA and EDA was signed. In 2012, communication from the commission to the
council and the European parliament called “Establishing appropriate relations between the EU and
the European Space Agency” was adopted, defining and developing article of Lisbon Treaty
articulating the need for EU to establish appropriate relations with ESA. Another document,
“Conclusions towards a shared EU-ESA vision for space fostering competitiveness” adopted by the
Council of the EU in 2014, was built on the Framework agreement from 2004 and set new rules to
the partnership of the two organizations. In 2016, a “Joint Statement on Shared Vision and Goals for
the Future of European Space” was signed by Director General of ESA and EU Commissioner for

28
Space Strategy for Europe, European Commission, https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/1/2016/EN/COM-
2016-705-F1-EN-MAIN.PDF
14
Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Elżbieta Bieńkowska.29 This document was
considered to be a high-level policy guiding element and emphasized the intentions of EU and ESA
to closely cooperate in order to achieve goals set by both organizations.

29
“European Union Law”, europa.eu, https://europa.eu/european-union/law/
15